Not trying to sound like Scrooge, but...

[Joe Fields]

I'm a traditionalist, in the sense that I hate seeing holidays overlap. It sucks seeing Christmas advertised on t.v. and radio the day after Halloween, just because retailers want an earlier start on their fourth quarter sales profits. Thanksgiving comes in between, and I don't EVEN want to see a commercial or think about Christmas, until the first week of December. After that, I really enjoy getting into the Christmas spirit. But there is a time for everything, and I have to say that I, for one resent the Christmas encroachment.

[Wilms]

1. Apparently there's a War on Thanksgiving. n/t

[Joe Fields]

2. Must be a turkey uprising.

[hlthe2b]

could not agree more...

Having Christmas decorations out before Halloween pisses me off, no end. Then again, I've dropped off my purchasing for Christmas exponentially over the years as the corporatocracy took firm hold.
Small gestures, but not extravagent... Not in years.

[LWolf]

6. I won't be doing any shopping or decorating this month.

Most of the simple gifts I will give were already purchased at different times throughout the year, or will be purchased sometime in the first two weeks of December.

The tree will come home on the 21st, and be decorated at that point. It will go out on the 27th, and all decorations will be put away at that point.

I've learned something interesting the last 2 years, living in Oregon.

You know, Oregon. A MAJOR producer of Christmas trees here in the west.

The selections on Dec. 23rd are even sparser than they are in neighboring states; all the trees have been shipped out by then, and those that didn't go have been purchased already.

It's a good thing we aren't picky about a tree. ;)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I try to ignore it

by not shopping much at all this time of year. The thing I hate the most are the canned "Christmas carols" they play over and over and over again in stores.

[Joe Fields]

5. I do my best to block out t.v. commercials, but it is impossible.

I just have to deal with the early Christmas commercials, but I sure don't like it. I am waiting to do my shopping until after Thanksgiving. Then it won't bother me.

[dflprincess]

13. I hate the canned Christmas carols - but I also hate the radio stations that play nothing but carols

There are several in this area that do that (one has started already.

[bamademo]

4. I hate Christmas and Thanksgiving.

It's an excuse for gluttony and greed. I resent that I have to spend money every year because of societal pressure. Bah! Humbug! I'm donating to charities in people's names this year.

[H2O Man]

7. I saw holiday lights

on outside a house today. It was in the middle of the afternoon.

[Joe Fields]

8. LOL... They are all over my neighborhood. They aren't on during

the daytime, though. I can understand wanting to put up outside decorations, while our weather is so beautiful, but I wish the home owners would leave the lights turned off until Thanksgiving night.

[caseycoon]

9. I love Christmas but...

HEY! It's in DECEMBER!
I really don't like the overlap either.
YUCK!

[NC_Nurse]

10. It bugs me to see that stuff earlier each year.

I enjoy Christmas AFTER Thanksgiving. It's just obnoxious to start pushing it before then.

[Emit]

11. My six year old pointed this out to me a few weeks ago! n/t

[Raine]

12. TOTALLY agree

I refuse to acknowledge or think about Christmas in any way until AFTER Thanksgiving.

[Blashyrkh]

14. At least you have Halloween and Thanksgiving.

In Australia, the Christmas shit comes out early October. Suck it up.

[Joe Fields]

15. Aussies don't celebrate Halloween?

[JustAnotherGen]

18. Neither did the French either

Until a few years ago . . . And then, I understand it's still very sparse.

[Blashyrkh]

19. Not nearly to the same degree.

I preface this by saying there is a small Halloween culture. Sometimes 4 or 5 families in a neighbourhood and the kids of those families will trick or treat at those houses. Trick or Treating never gets more organised than that. If I get trick or treaters, I hope they brought a trick because they ain't getting a treat.

But there's no buying 40kgs of candy to give out, there's no bands of kids wandering the street. I think the holiday itself seems just to have permeated Australian culture because American culture makes up so much of ours. We get all the themed TV shows and that, but the event itself has never really taken off here.

[WillowTree]

16. The part that bothers me the most about the early start of Christmas...

....is the early proliferation of peppermint ice cream. It's already screaming at me from the freezer in the market as I walk by, shreiking "You need me. . . . . . .You NEEEEED me!". It's evil I tell you.

Most of the rest I can ignore, but peppermint ice cream is a huge downfall for me so forcing me to endure that particular temptation for an extra three weeks or so a year is just plain cruel.

[Joe Fields]

23. Why, why, WHY MUST THEY TORTURE US SO?

[Mutineer]

17. retailers are desperate

They've got to try and do something, anything to get the public in a mood to shop this year. An unusually warm fall and a weak economy have combined to lead to lackluster sales figures the past two months at many of the retail giants.

[emilyg]

20. My lights get turned on Thansgiving night. I love Christmas.

[upi402]

21. Yep, we boycott the baby jesus sales promotional season n/t

[Quantess]

22. Christmas lasts 2 full months of every year.

All of November and all of December, we are not allowed to forget that Christmas is coming.
2 full months of every year is 1/6 of every year spent being nagged about Xmas. 1/6 of every year adds up to
1/6 of our entire lives getting nagged about impending Christmas!

[tanyev]

24. From a liturgical standpoint, Christmas does not start until Christmas Eve.

The twelve days of Christmas are the days AFTER Christmas. As an anal church musician, you can imagine how much the early jump on Christmas irritates me. Then by the time you make it to the 26th or 27th, people are so sick and tired of everything Christmas that they start putting decorations away, turn off the music and throw away the tree. Hate it.

[Joe Fields]

29. True. People are so mentally worn down from all of the

commercialism of Christmas by the time Christmas arrived, that they don't enjoy it. They are exhausted.

[OzarkDem]

25. Retail sales are way down

Holidays are when most retailers make most of their sales, so they're advertising early to get customers into stores.

[Joe Fields]

26. Yes, that is correct.

[SoCalDem]

27. We had Christmas stuff up NEXT to Halloween displays

around these parts, Thanksgiving is just a "grocery store" event..and a day for MOM (usually) to work her ass off on a day off from work, on a meal that takes HOURS to fix, minutes to consume, and HOURS again, cleaning up..

It's not about the "thanks-giving"..it's about stuffing the bird, and then stuffing yourself, and flopping on the couch in a stupor, and watching football until you snooze ..:grr:

[Cha]

28. It totally turns

me off..and I tune out.

[AlCzervik]

30. i have 0 interest in Christmas this year for the first time, i am so uninspired

and i just found out my next door neighbors home just went into foreclosure. I'm maing a nice dinner, putting up a small tree and spending time with my husband and daughter and thats it.

[Joe Fields]

31. It may end up being the most rewarding Christmas for you.

Unfortunately, as an adult, I have been too stressed out during the holidays to ever really enjoy them.

[orleans]

32. maybe that's why i didn't feel the christmas spirit or even the thanksgiving spirit

today when i was in the grocery store

because it's no where near christmas! and all this christmas crap just kills the thanksgiving mood for me.

[Neshanic]

33. We skipped Thanksgiving this year. Next year it will be Labor Day.

[leeroysphitz]

34. Let retailers cast their lures earlier just so long as you are wary a month or so early

then what is the harm?